Do you remember what it was like to travel without children? You could hop on a plane without ten thousand bags, get a cocktail as soon as you touched down, and wake up whenever you fancied. Flash forward to now, when your trips are likely filled with whining kids, early mornings, and an endless to-do list of packing, cleaning, and entertaining.
It’s a different experience, that’s for sure, and once you’ve traveled with kids a few times, the chances are that you wouldn’t have it any other way. But sometimes, just sometimes, you might find yourself missing that more peaceful travel style.
Luckily, while you might have to work harder to achieve it, there are ways to bring peace and relaxation to your time away, even when you have young children. Keep reading to find out what they are.
Choose a kid-friendly hotel
The best way to buy yourself a peaceful vacation is to simply choose a family-friendly hotel. As well as having great child-friendly facilities like pools, play parks, and even soft plays, family hotels tend to have daytime entertainment and clubs for your children to attend. These facilities can buy you some great time to chill by the pool, or even take solo walks along the beach, while safe in the knowledge your kids are having the time of their lives.
Family-friendly resorts also provide the bonus of being generally safe for slightly older children to explore alone. If you go all-inclusive, they could even head up to get their drinks and snacks as they need them! That saves you from having to get up every five minutes, or constantly deal with demands, and is sure to keep everyone happier throughout your more relaxing trip.
Book plenty of excursions
It may seem counterintuitive to book plenty of excursions to enjoy a peaceful break, but there’s a lot to be said for keeping your kids busy while you’re out and about. Even if you only dedicate a few hours each day to family-friendly activities like rock climbing, hiking, or water sports, this is a great outlet for high energy levels. And, when your kids have an outlet for their energy, it’ll be far easier to carve out more relaxing moments when you’re back at your hotel or are attempting to take a peaceful walk through town.
Simply make sure you’re booking excursions that actively interest your kids, and which are energy-filled to ensure you can feel their full benefits.
Accept screen time sometimes
If you were at home, the chances are your kids would use screens at least some of the time. Every parent can benefit from allowing their children the odd moment on a phone or iPad when they need a second to themselves, after all. Yet, when it comes to our vacations, we feel the need to be always on and entertaining our kids at every moment.
In reality, though, there’s nothing wrong with occasional vacation screen time, which could include one episode of their favorite show, or more educational outlets like iPad coloring or an online game of chess. These things can be useful for encouraging your kids to calm down during a high-excitement vacation. These brief snatches of time will also allow you to lean back, close your eyes, and finally enjoy a bit of peace. Especially if you take along some noise-canceling headphones that mean you aren’t interrupted by those all-too-familiar cartoon tunes.
Scrap the Routine
Often, the true stress and pressure of a family vacation comes from simply trying to stick to some rough semblance of a routine. After all, your mornings will need to move far quicker if you intend to finish in time for your kids to eat dead on mid-day like they would at home. And, you’ll be constantly against the clock if you’re always rushing towards a set, early bedtime.
By pushing that routine a little, which is generally easy to do from toddler age up, you can buy yourself all-important time. This, alone, can bring a surprising amount of peace to your trip. Or, will at least take you back to those pre-child days where you barely looked at the time while away. Instead, your kids can spend far more time exploring and playing, and you should have the time to carve out many more peaceful moments across the entirety of your trip.
Is peaceful travel possible with kids? Yes, but it isn’t always an easy goal to achieve. Bring it within easier reach when you put these pointers into action.
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